Refractions Help¶
Refractions is a task pane for PowerPoint, Word, and Excel on Mac. It lets you edit (and embed new) GraphPad Prism charts inside Office documents in three clicks: scan → click chart → Update.
This help site covers everything you need to install, activate, and use Refractions.
Quick links¶
- Installation — install the .pkg, sideload the add-in, grant macOS permissions
- Activation — enter your license key
- Usage — full walkthrough for PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, including the insert-new and auto-refresh flows
- Troubleshooting — common problems and fixes
- FAQ — Windows compatibility, Prism versions, privacy
What Refractions does¶
| Today | With Refractions |
|---|---|
Right-click chart → Open Object → Save As .pzfx → edit in Prism → Export PNG → paste back into the slide / page / sheet → resize |
Click chart in task pane → edit in Prism → click Update |
The Office file stays a real OLE-embedded .pzfx, so colleagues on Windows can keep double-clicking to edit each chart via Prism's native handler — nothing about the file format changes.
What you can do¶
- Edit an existing embedded Prism chart in PowerPoint, Word, or Excel and have the preview image refresh automatically.
- Insert a new Prism chart straight from the task pane: Refractions creates a fresh pre-allocated
.pzfx, opens it in Prism, and embeds the result when you click Update. - Auto-refresh control: keep the close-and-reopen step automatic, or turn it off and refresh on your own schedule with a single click.
What you'll need¶
- macOS 14 or later
- One of: PowerPoint, Word, or Excel for Mac (Microsoft 365)
- GraphPad Prism 9 or later
- A Refractions license key
Don't have a license yet? Buy one at refractions.app/pricing/.